Monday, January 30, 2017

Cotton and Boozman back Trump's travel ban

No surprise: Sen. Tom Cotton and Sen. John Boozman are backing Donald Trump's controversial executive order — rolled out chaotically, incompetently, and arguably unconstitutionally over the weekend — enacting an immediate 90-day ban on entry into the U.S. from citizens of seven majority-Muslim nations as well as a 120-ban on entry for all refugees.

The order has been met with massive protests nationwide. It's also been opposed or criticized by numerous GOP lawmakers.

The Washington Post has the known count as of last night: Sixteen Republican members of congress expressed outright opposition — six senators and ten representatives. Statements released included the following: "Such a hasty process risks harmful results. ... It’s unacceptable when even legal permanent residents are being detained or turned away at airports and ports of entry. ... If we send a signal to the Middle East that the U.S. sees all Muslims as jihadis, the terrorist recruiters win ... This is ridiculous. ... Trump's executive order overreaches and undermines our constitutional system. ... The president's policy entirely misses the mark. ... immediately problematic. ... ultimate display of mistrust...will erode allies' willingness to fight with us. ... poorly implemented.”

(The D-G this morning called this opposition "a handful of Republicans that criticized Trump's order.")

But not Cotton and Boozman! They were among the approximately 40 Republican members of Congress who have expressed support for Trump's executive order (many others — including, as far as I know, the rest of the Arkansas congressional delegation — have thus far stayed silent).

Here's Cotton's statement:

It's simply wrong to call the president’s executive order concerning immigration and refugees ‘a religious test’ of any kind. I doubt many Arkansans or Americans more broadly object to taking a harder look at foreigners coming into our country from war-torn nations with known terror networks; I think they’re wondering why we don’t do that already. With proper procedures for green-card holders and immigrants with a documented history of serving alongside our troops, I think most Americans support these common-sense measures. I also think it’s high time we took action to fix an ill-designed refugee program that harms Christians and other religious minorities who've suffered from genocide in Syria. Whatever the media and liberal politicians may say, I’m confident that, under Secretary Kelly’s leadership, these measures will help keep America safe.

Here's Boozman's statement:

Protecting our national security must be a top priority. Our intelligence community and citizens in communities across Arkansas and the United States lack confidence in the programs we use to vet refugees fleeing from persecution and war-torn countries like Syria. We need reasonable measures that allow us to evaluate safety checks for people coming into our country. I have great confidence in Secretary Kelly and look forward to working with him to secure our borders. This is best achieved by working with Congress and the appropriate agencies to alleviate unintended consequences.

Perhaps worth noting that while the order is not a blanket "Muslim ban" — many majority-Muslim nations, obviously, are not included in the ban — Trump consigliere Rudy Giuliani bragged that the policy was explicitly designed to get as close as possible to a Muslim ban within the bounds of the law:

I’ll tell you the whole history of it: When he first announced it, he said "Muslim ban." He called me up, he said, "Put a commission together, show me the right way to do it legally."

The ACLU got a stay on Saturday blocking the enforcement of many aspects of the order as potential violations of the Equal Protection and Due Process rights guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution. However, numerous reports over the weekend suggest that the Trump administration and customs officials may not be fully complying with the court order. (The ACLU is expected to file a lawsuit to overturn the executive order in its entirety this week.)

The D-G this morning sought to assuage any doubts that it would be a mouthpiece for Dear Leader. Here was the chosen headline for the biggest story in the nation: "Trump aides: Few harried by travel ban." Hmm. Rather than recount the stories and humanitarian stakes behind this harrying, I'll just note that the Trump administration's argument that the travel ban is okay because a relatively small number of people have been immediately and directly harmed betrays a rather flimsy vigor for protecting constitutional rights.

Tell us something good.

Lickspittles for a liar.

KUAR reports that Ted Bentley, husband of state Rep. Mary Bentley of Perryville, was arrested last Sunday for allegedly violating an order or protection. The Petit Jean Country Headline reports that Bentley got the order protection against him in early December and has filed for divorce.

Readers also liked…

The Arkansas highway department's representative on the Metroplan board of directors told the board today that the department is requesting an exception to the planning agency's cap on six lanes for its 30 Crossing project to widen Interstate 30 from six to 10 (and more) lanes.

President Obama today announced commutations of the sentences of 111 federal prisoners, including one from Arkansas.

A reporter for Politifact, the Pulitzer Prize-winning fact-checking organization, sent a reporter to Africa to see where money given to the Clinton Foundation has been put to work. He found tangible results.

A rediscovered violin concerto brings an oft-forgotten composer into the limelight.

My colleagues John Ray and Jesse Bacon and I estimate, in the first analysis of its kind for the 2018 election season, that the president's waning popularity isn't limited to coastal cities and states. The erosion of his electoral coalition has spread to The Natural State, extending far beyond the college towns and urban centers that voted for Hillary Clinton in 2016. From El Dorado to Sherwood, Fayetteville to Hot Springs, the president's approval rating is waning.

Despite fierce protests from disabled people, the U.S. House voted today, mostly on party lines, to make it harder to sue businesses for violating the Americans with Disabilities Act. Of course Arkansas congressmen were on the wrong side.